Pick the moment where the Chicago Cubs found a spark.

Try Jameson Taillon’s first strikeout of the game, punching out Fernando Tatis Jr. It set a tone that raucous Wrigley Field never let go. Good thing there were plenty more sparks to come.

Dansby Swanson’s defense snuffed whatever flame the Padres’ offense had left. Pete Crow-Armstrong got back to his starring role on both offense and defense. Michael Busch was the hard-hitting, unsung hero. Daniel Palencia threw flames as the Padres struggled to see the 100-mile-per-hour meteors he hurled.

Pick one of the sparks the Cubs had on Thursday. One would have been all they needed, but having an array to choose from is nice.

Especially considering what the 2025 Cubs’ superpower is. Once this team gets any kind of spark, they don’t look back and it’s hard to smother that momentum.

They’re proving this is a roster that’s built to win games. They’re proving they don’t need much to get them over that hump, either. This is a roster that many hoped could overcome its shortcomings. They proved it with a 3-1 win.

“The moment’s not too big for anybody seemingly, and guys just stepped up,” reliever Andrew Kittredge said. “There wasn’t really a panic in the clubhouse. I know we lost last night, but I don’t think our confidence ever faded.” 

In Game 1, the Cubs had back-to-back homers before Palencia took over the fifth inning and got three massive outs emphatically.

The Cubs had control. Manager Craig Counsell said that fifth inning in Game 1 opened a pathway to a win. On Thursday, it happened immediately.

Big picture view:

Taillon struck out Tatis, he felt the results and he was locked in.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Taillon said. “I’ve pitched in some big games. I struck out Tatis to start the game. That was the loudest I’ve ever heard a stadium in the big leagues.”

Taillon pitched four innings. The Padres could barely touch him. That led to an afternoon where Cubs’ pitchers stymied the Padres’ top three hitters: Tatis, Luis Arraez and Manny Machado. They went a combined 0-11 in a do-or-die Game 3.

It helped that the Cubs had Swanson up the middle, and his defense was impressive, impeccable and unflappable.

“That’s why you bring him in here,” Cubs President Jed Hoyer said.

Taillon’s early spark combined with a two-run second inning to give the Cubs what they needed to ride through seven more innings of work. They put the pressure on with plays that loaded the bases with no one out before Crow-Armstrong got the first run of the game on a single.

The offense, which was known for a boom-or-bust way of play and struggled on Wednesday, put the pressure on the Padres slowly but ever so surely.

“No matter who’s up – one through nine – no matter who’s on the mound, we just try and keep it rolling, continue the good at bats,” outfielder Kyle Tucker said. “I think we did a lot of that tonight.”

San Diego had to turn to closer Robert Suarez, the earliest he had ever come on to pitch, by the sixth inning to make sure they kept the Cubs’ offense from building more momentum.

Padres manager Mike Shildt left Suarez in for one batter too long as Michael Busch kept the pressure on with a solo home run. 

Of course, it’s not easy. The ninth inning was a reminder that playoff baseball isn’t for the weak. Either the rosters are built to withstand the pressure, or they crack. Jackson Merrill’s solo home run and two hit batters had the go-ahead run at the plate with the Padres’ best asset warming in the bullpen.

It was a reminder that this was a Padres team that had made the playoffs in three of the last five years and had never had a season end in the Wild Card round.

“We have second, third, and two outs and an elimination game,” Hoyer said. “Mason Miller warming up. Like, it’s a nice sense of relief, you know.”

But, Kittredge came in and got the save. Hoyer’s deadline acquisition got the call in the game’s biggest moment and answered.

His arm was a little sore from starting on Wednesday, but that didn’t matter by the time he got out to the mound. Kittredge said he soaked in the moment before he came into the game and a calm rushed over him.

“I was just happy that after I bounced that first pitch to lock it in and throw some strikes and get it done,” Kittredge said.

Dig deeper:

The Cubs got there because they kept on finding a spark where they needed it. They’ve done it all season, and the team’s execution is why they won 92 games.

It’s easy to point to the lack of a NL Central Division title as a sour taste, but the Brewers needed a historic season to hold the Cubs at bay. Now that it’s the playoffs, the Cubs are thriving on coming through for the team and the town.

Crow-Armstrong dictated a postgame love letter to the fans in the bleachers.

“Being able to feed off of the crowd, but being able to turn around every day for 81 games and actually see people’s faces and kind of see what they’re feeling and hear things they’re saying, I really do weirdly believe I have a relationship with every single one of them,” Crow-Armstrong said. “It was only right that I shared that with them for a second.”

As the champagne sprayed and every member of the organization partied into the night, the team that pundits and others nitpicked as the season went on found a way to move on. There’s a chance even bigger parties could happen, too.

That’s what the Cubs team earned after leaning into their superpower.

“It’s colder than the bottles in Pittsburgh,” Taillon said.